Raithe

Not being the best Monday start... a few lurking things hanging on the edge of my mind that have me gnawing away in annoyance / griefy distraction. As twelth night was yesterday, got all the decorations down and packed up, so today it's just tidying up the effects from the tree.. A few work things I should probably poke at, found out that "because it was christmas!" my mother hadn't actually been checking her sugar levels so she wouldn't feel guilty/worried over christmas food... and she has a fasting blood test scheduled this wednesday. Haven't heard anything from someone I expected to over christmas and the new year, so that's bubbling along on annoyance/worry in the background.. The big dog keeps barking all protectively if anyone walks in front of the house today, so that's been fun. Although I did get notice that my copy of the final WoT book is in the post, so possibly might arrive manana. I think that calls for mass escapism from life in general, so I think I'll see if I can organise things so I can pretty much spend most of tomorrow holed up away from people in general and read...

Heh, I've got one shelf stacked up with AD&D 2nd edition stuff, all the core books, and nearly the complete boxed sets and supplements for Al-Quadim, Birthright, Dark Sun, Forgotten Realms, a chunk of the Planescape and Spelljammer... Although it's been about 6 years since we last used any of it. That annoying time when the group that had been playing together for a decade plus ends up scattering around the country and dealing with jobs, marriage and suchlike.. I still pick up new rpg books, but I've found it tends to be more for my own personal reading and occasionally doodling of ideas rather then getting actual gaming in with a group.

What's the gameplay dlc? Nightmare in North Point? Yeah, Nightmare in North Point. They've also got the Zodiac Tournament out now, but that's still full price.

For an interesting twist, saw this : "What are some good movies that can be boiled down to a premise that doesn't sound like a good movie?" (Example: Five high school kids meet in detention. -- Breakfast Club) How many can you think of?

s'True.

And the Sleeping Dogs dlc was reduced down to a pound and loose change.. The actual gameplay dlc, not just the costume changes stuff.

Yeah, I ran through the first dozen of them over the start of the week. Fairly easy going, although just how he manages to keep interacting with all these major people without the next VIP having heard something is a bit strange. Although it was quite interesting to see how the original story of One Shot was changed to fit a film.

Isn't it kind of interesting how a thread titled "depressed" leads to a discussion on romance? Or, to go with the Neil Gaiman quotage:

There's that fine line of romantic and juvenile melodrama... and love and obsession But the hopeless romance can be awkward, and the flip side is, what do you call it when you have tried moving on, bounced therapy, drink, medication, throwing yourself into work, dating other people, throwing yourself into hobbies, keeping yourself distracted with assorted other things, and years on you still find yourself feeling that way about that one person and getting hit with the loss of it all? If you've gone through all the processes that should let you / help you move on, but none of them have actually worked, it reaches a point of slamming your head against a wall in trying to let go properly.

And for more TOR updates.. http://uk.ign.com/ar...epublics-future?

And from what I've heard with Congress starting up.. a bunch of the moderates on both parties lost their seats. So gee, it should be even more extreme partisan politics in the struggle to get anything done...

Well woke up from a few odd dreams, trying to uncrick my back from whatever awkward way I was apparently sleeping... Switched on the pc to check email and the first world news that pops up is the Argentine President once again demanding we hand over the Falklands to her. Everytime she needs a popularity boost in her country she turns around and does this.

Well there is meant to be a whole batch of stuff transplanted in from the Silmarillon and such. Elements that aren't in the book of the Hobbit "properly", but helped set in motion the things that happen in Lord of the Rings. Jackson apparently wanted to make all those connections clearer for the Hobbit film being a prequel by making it about more then just "this is how Bilbo found the ring". I'm not saying I agree with exactly how he went about it, but I can see the logic to a lot of those choices. Of course, that's also a large reason why it got pushed from two films to three... So there's possibly another side to the logic for that as well...

Ah yes, North and South was an adaption of a piece of literature over here. Industrial revolution setting.. Kind of Pride and Prejudice type of thing.

Heh, I now have the grand title of Managing Director since the old one got headhunted. Of course, there's absolutely no income to the company, and I don't have a wage from it, and there's no-one else who handles any of the work full time, and everyone else is (like me) paid on project work basis. So I get to do the administration of it, pay off the accountants from the company account when they send me the tax notice and that's that. Still, I guess it looks good on my CV now.

I think it also stood out that they weren't "stumpy" or "squat" dwarves. Of course, I found it amusing that the moment Thorin comes on screen women over here in the UK pretty much all sigh and smile. Ever since Richard Armitage appeared in North and South he's been one of the romance heart throbs of females all over this isle..

In other worlds, all the things that people say "time will heal it" and time never freaking heals it.

Heh, I realised that I haven't uninstalled Alpha Protocol from my machine since i first installed it when it originally came out. It goes months without me playing it, but then I'll start it up and have another poke at it again...

Saw Jack Reacher. Not a bad book adaption, although a fair bit was shifted around for the film. And I have to say, taking a main character that's a 6'5, 240 lb former Military Policeman.. and having him played by Tom Cruise is an interesting choice. Since he's played as a fairly controlled, intense and not heavily emotional guy, it actually works fairly well. A little crime, a little conspiracy, a few misdirects, and some rough housing. Entertaining in general, but nothing too overly flashy.

It is surprising how.. aggravating it can be not to hear from certain people over Christmas that you'd expect to hear from.

Had a brief start on the Imperial Agent on TOR. Interesting as it starts, had to go with Operative when I hit fleet since the Sniper skill tree's are a bit too close to my Smuggler/Gunslinger. Want to have a different feel and explore different style of play with each different class...

Got the Doctor Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog on bluray for christmas so I sat down and went through it and the special features. I have to say, "Commentary - The Musical!" is genius.

The government can screw me over slowly, regardless. The banks and corporations can do the same. Whether I have guns or not. But the moron down the street can't casually shoot me by accident nor can his kids get hold of a gun to play with when he forgets to put it in the gunsafe properly since he can't easily get hold of a gun in this country. Most democracies run on popularity contests and spin rather then actual ability, and they have for awhile. I've learnt to accept that. People tend to be morons, I've learnt to live with that. Not having to worry about most morons I meet being able to carry guns is something I'm perfectly fine with. Personally, I don't care so much on the gun control issue in the US because it's not the underlying cause of those problems. It's just one of the easily reached solutions when those causes push things along. Until you get a better grasp on the reasons why those people snap like that, and ways to deal with it, taking away the guns only limits them, it doesn't stop them. The question of whether that limitation is worthwhile and just how much it might slow down or prevent such occurances... That's more of a valid argument.

They made an interesting trilogy of Batman films, but the thing that did disapoint was that at no point did they explore the element of the Dark Knight as a world class detective.